On average, Tooele County residents are hospitalized for poisoning more often than other Utah or U.S. citizens — but the most common poison local residents encounter doesn’t always come with a prominent warning label.
The county’s most common source of poison, based on the number of calls received by the Utah Poison Control Center from Tooele County, is actually cosmetic products, said Marty Malheiro, a public information officer with the Utah Poison Control Center.
In 2014, 102 Tooele County residents called poison control after someone ingested a potentially toxic cosmetic product — and 90 of those patients were children age 6 or younger.
The trouble with cosmetics — which also account for the No. 1 accidentally ingested toxin in the state — is that many people don’t think of mundane things like toothpaste or shampoo as poisons, and so these products aren’t stored or handled in the same way as medicine or household chemicals.
Yet just a swig or two of mouthwash can kill a toddler, Malheiro said, and though other cosmetics may not be deadly, they can cause burns, vomiting, and other undesirable side effects.
Cosmetics also seem to be attractive to young children, Malheiro said, and it’s not uncommon for poison control to get calls about toddlers drinking bottles of perfume or eating sticks of deodorant.
“This is all normal kid stuff,” she said, explaining that it is normal for young children to go through a phase where they use their mouth to learn about their environment. Even if they don’t like carrots, she said, if a toddler encounters a bar of soap while exploring, there’s a good chance that bar of soap will end up in the child’s mouth.
Household cleaners and chemicals are the second most common reason for calls to poison control, accounting for more than 70 possible poisonings in children under six, and pain killers — both prescription and over-the-counter — were the third most common source, with 51 possible poisonings in children under six.
Small objects such as paperclips, toys and batteries came in at fourth place. Normally most of these things would be relatively harmless, Malheiro said, but the rising popularity of lithium batteries, which are highly toxic, has complicated some calls.
Those statistics mirror trends across the state of Utah, where poisoning is the number one cause of unintentional, injury-related death, Malheiro said.
Tooele County averages 20 poison-related deaths per 100,000 residents, just under the state’s average of 21 deaths per 100,000 population, but over the national average of 14 deaths per 100,000 population.
Nearly 1,000 Tooele County residents called poison control in 2014, Malheiro said, accounting for roughly 2.3 percent of calls received by the state agency. Tooele County accounts for 2.1 percent of the state’s population, suggesting that poison control calls in Tooele County are more common than expected.
The high rate of poisonings in the county has prompted the Tooele County Health Department, with the help of the Utah Poison Control Center, to launch a week-long educational blitz for National Poison Prevention week.
Malheiro said she wanted local residents to know that they should never hesitate to call poison control at the first sign — or even suspicion — of poisoning. And it doesn’t have to be an emergency, she said. Poison control is happy to answer questions, or even just mail educational materials to interested callers.
Residents can reach the Utah Poison Control Center through the Poison Control Hotline at 1-800-222-1222. Educational materials are also available for free at the Tooele County Health Department.
Calling poison control can help reduce ER visits
Representatives from the Utah Poison Control Center believe a little education could go a long way toward reducing Tooele County’s above average rates of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for poison-related incidents.
An average of 14 of every 10,000 Tooele County residents has been hospitalized in a poison-related accident, and an average 23 of every 10,000 residents has visited the ER for poisoning, according to the Utah Violence and Injury Small Area Report. Statewide, an average nine in 10,000 has been hospitalized for poisoning.
Some of the county’s high rate of poisoning may be related to the area’s relatively young demographic, said Marty Malheiro, a public information officer with the Utah Poison Control Center.
More than half of all poison-related incidents involve a child under six years of age, she said, and youth is a big part of the reason why Utah has a higher rate of poisonings per capita than most other states.
But Malheiro said she believes poisoning could be less common in Tooele County if more residents realized that calling poison control is a safe, effective and appropriate action to take whenever someone ingests, inhales or comes into contact with a possible poison.
Malheiro said studies show that when more people call poison control at the first sign of poisoning, it decreases the number of poison-related ER visits, and, subsequently, the number of people hospitalized for poisoning.
In fact, Malheiro said, 70 percent of poisoning cases phoned into poison control are resolved without the patient ever leaving home.
The representatives who answer the phones for poison control are all certified medical professionals, such as nurses and pharmacists, who have special training in toxicology.
Poison control representatives are also trained in veterinary toxicology, meaning they can help residents should their dog, instead of their child, break into the medicine cabinet. Poison control can also address situations involving poisonous plants, spider and snake bites, or even just answer questions if residents aren’t sure whether a new medication they were prescribed is safe to take with, say, ibuprofen.
“Even if they just think [someone may have been exposed to a potential poison], they can call and get a risk assessment,” Malheiro said. “Even if seniors think, ‘did I take too many pills and forget?’”
In such situations, Malheiro said, poison control can answer questions, provide education, and, if needed, follow up on the situation more than once. Poison control will check in continuously until the medical professional on the case is sure everyone on the other end of the line is safe.
But if things go the other way and a trip to the doctor or hospital is necessary, Malheiro said poison control can help residents determine what level of medical intervention is appropriate. Poison control can also help by calling ahead to the medical facility of the patient’s choice to relay the information collected over the phone directly to a doctor to jump-start a faster medical response.
Through all of this, Malheiro said, the patient’s interactions with poison control remain entirely confidential. Poison control does not report to the police, nor do the police listen into their calls, Malheiro said. That means residents should feel safe about calling poison control in any medical situation, she said, even if the scenario involves something potentially illegal, like drug abuse, because poison control’s only objective is the health of the patient.
Poison control will ask for the patient’s name and phone number, but that’s just to allow the center to follow up as necessary. The representative who answers the phone will also ask for the circumstances regarding the poisoning incident — what was ingested, how much, and by whom, as well as the patient’s weight and age — so callers should be ready with as much information as they can gather.
Malheiro recommended that all residents program the Utah Poison Control Center hotline — 1-800-222-1222 — into their cell phones for easy access. She said that number will work anywhere in the nation, linking callers to a state-run poison control center no matter where in the U.S. they may be located.
She also recommended placing a poison control sticker or magnet somewhere prominent in the home, because she said patients sometimes are unable to remember where to find the number in a crisis situation.
Residents can also connect with poison control on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and education.